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Malcolm Pein on…Bullet Chess Experts

Malcolm Pein

March 24, 2021

Malcolm Pein presents two games by Bullet Chess experts in today’s Daily Telegraph column – one of whom is none other than the World Champion himself, Magnus Carlsen.

Malcolm Pein on…Bullet Chess Experts

Magnus Carlsen’s embrace of Internet chess is not confined to the innovative tournaments his company PlayMagnus Chess 24 has staged since lockdown began. The World Champion frequently takes on all-comers at Bullet Chess on the LiChess server and plays matches against leading exponents of this super-fast form of the game.

Bullet Chess time limits are 1-0, which is one minute for all moves and no increment, 1-1, one minute for all moves plus one second added to the clock for every move made and 2-1.

Carlsen recently accepted a challenge from Bullet Chess expert IM Andrew Tang and, for two and half hours, they battled away with Carlsen emerging victorious 54.5-33.5. Tang landed some hefty blows:

M. Carlsen – A. Tang
Centre Game 1+0

1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Nc6 4.Qc4 (Carlsen’s version of the Centre Game bears some similarity to the Scandinavian Defence, but with an extra tempo, which is e2– e4. In the Scandinavian after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qc5? would allow 4.d4) 4…Nf6 5.Nc3 Bb4 (Also the best recipe against the standard 4.Qe3) 6.Bd2 0–0 7.0–0–0 Re8 8.f3 d6 9.g4 Be6 10.Qe2 Nd4 (10…d5!?) 11.Qf2 c5 12.Nge2 Qb6 13.a3 (13.g5 Nd7 14.Nxd4 cxd4 15.Na4 Qa5 16.Bxb4 Qxa4 17.Qxd4 Qxa2 18.f4 looks good) 13…Bxa3!? 14.bxa3 Nxc2 (Excellent bullet play, unsound but bamboozling) 15.Kxc2 (15.Bg5 Qb3 16.Bxf6 gxf6 17.Ng3! was one good line) 15…Qb3+ 16.Kd3?? (After 16.Kc1 Qxa3+ 17.Kb1 Qb3+ Black draws by perpetual check)

Test Your Strength

Black to play and mate in two moves

A. Tang – M. Carlsen
Benko Gambit 1+0

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a65.e3 e6 6.Nc3 exd5 7.Nxd5 Bb7 8.Nc3 (8.Nxf6+ Qxf6 9.Nf3 is best) 8…Be7 9.Nf3 0–0 10.Be2 axb5 11.Bxb5 d5 (Black has excellent compensation for the pawn and his moves flow easily) 12.0–0 Nbd7 13.a4 Bd6 14.h3 Qe7 15.b3 Ne5 16.Be2? (16.Nxe5 Qxe5 17.f4 Qxc3 18.Bd2 Qb2 19.Rb1 Qa2 20.Ra1 forces a draw, as the queen cannot escape and cannot be trapped)

Test Your Strength

Black to play and win

Highlight the space below this line to reveal the answers.

Answer 1: 16…Bc4+ 17.Ke3 Nd5# 0–1

Answer 2: 16…Nxf3+ 17.Bxf3 Qe5 0–1 Qxc3 and Qh2# cannot both be prevented.

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Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes